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Re: OBI vs SliTaz's Installer

 

Hi Ali,

[answering inline]

Best regards
Nio

Den 2018-06-03 kl. 07:39, skrev Ali Linx (amjjawad):
Hi Nio and everyone else,

http://www.slitaz.org/en/

I was doing something and then thought to download SliTaz and install it on Oracle VirtualBox:

https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/2018/01/13/step-by-step-install-for-slitaz-linux-rolling-release-on-virtualbox-pretty-straightforward/

Aside from the fact that it's using less than 45MB of RAM while it's idle, SliTaz's installer is something we, IMHO, need to at least have a look at. I'm afraid and sorry to say that it's faster than OBI. While I do understand it's faster because SliTaz, in size, is much smaller than ToriOS but being fast is not the only thing I've noticed. The installation process IMHO is much more simple.

I've played with SliTaz years ago, maybe when they just released SliTaz 3.0 and it seems they've decided to go rolling release path AFAIK or can tell from their website.

I played with Slitaz years ago too. But at that time it was not mature enough. Some important things were just not working for me.

I have no current experience, but can have a look at it.

I'd recommend to have a look and then we can discuss how to improve our OBI even better.

Please don't get me wrong here. I know ToriOS and SliTaz, while they are suppose to serve the same cause, they're different. SliTaz is independent while ToriOS is not. However, both follow the KISS principle. In fact, SliTaz has inspired me to use the KISS principle on ToriOS's website.

I've joined SliTaz's Community in the past and was about to be active contributor but can't remember what happened back then? maybe my love to Ubuntu and its flavours was stronger at that time?!

Anyway, from the development point of view, and after checking SliTaz, install it, etc .. is it possible to make our OBI even more simple?!

My short answer is no. The development of computers and operating systems has moved on, and the niche for the OBI is not really there any more.

- The OBI was developed to make it possible to install an operating system into a computer with very low RAM, where the standard desktop installer ubiquity would fail. Today such computers may be around, but they are not really useful anyway, because the internet sites need more RAM (and more CPU horsepower). Useful computers (for today's typical usage) have enough RAM for ubiquity (and other current installers).

- UEFI changes the demands on the installer and I do not find it meaningful to develop the OBI to work also in UEFI mode. If I remember correctly, computers with UEFI are sold from 2011 (seven years ago, which is a long time in the computer world).

So I think that it is a good idea to look for another installer :-)

It is also an option to consider frugal install, which is a kind of persistent live system, that is used by some ultra-light distros, for example Puppy, but also Knoppix (based on Debian).

As it is now, mkusb can create a persistent live system with ToriOS.

By the way, Lubuntu is also switching to a new installer, *Calamares*, for the current developement version Cosmic to become 18.10.

Maybe in the future, we can make OBI even faster but IMHO, we need to focus on simplicity at this stage.

Many thanks for each and everything you've done and are doing now, Nio :D

Note: check the attached screenshot.

--
Remember: "All of us are smarter than any one of us."

Best Regards,
Ali/amjjawad <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/amjjawad>



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